A Frugal Hobby

 It's a while since I wrote about comping but it's only a few hours since I was doing it.

"What is comping?" I don't hear you say, but if I did, I would tell you it's entering competitions.  I do a lot of them.  A very lot of them  Anything from 3000 to 8000 per month.  That includes a lot of competitions which allow an entry every day for several weeks and a lot of competitions which appear on multiple sites so it is considerably less than 3000 different competitions.

Comping is part of my routine.  When I get up I check e mails, I check my finances, I read the news and then I settle to enter a few competitions.  It's the time when I sit in front of my daylight lamp, have a cup of coffee and generally find the energy to meet the day.  

I don't win many competitions, but I win considerably more than someone who doesn't enter competitions.  That sounds obvious but so many people have said, "Oh, I never win" but then reveal that they never enter!  Last year I had only three wins all year, but in 2019 I won eleven different prizes.

I never pay to enter competitions.  I enter only on line and I never need to buy something to qualify.   It is a frugal hobby in that it costs nothing.  Most of the prizes are not high value and I give away a high proportion of them.  For me the reward is just winning.  When postie comes with a mug or a parcel of books, I feel that the universe is on my side.  Giving away tickets for London shows or exhibitions at the National Exhibition Centre gives me pleasure.  

And this week I have won this book.  It was on a financial site which I use, Warren Shute and, unlike many competitions it needed a bit of effort as it was a quiz about decimalisation.  That happened fifty years ago on 15th January 1971 but it wasn't very hard for an oldie like me who could remember it all happening!

February

 This pandemic seems to be going on for ever but one day - one day! - we will be able to go out and socialise and do things!  I think it will be a few months before I resume even a little of my "normal" life and I want to make the most of this time to be ready to enjoy myself when that wonderful time comes. 

So, a project for February.  Twenty eight glorious days.  What to do with them?

Well. there's a project which is staring me in the face wherever I look.  It can't be avoided.  It's STUFF.  I've sorted quite a lot but I know there's plenty more which could go, so my aim for February is to have less stuff on 1st March than I have on 1st February. 

I'm going to try and get rid of one item for day one, two items for day two and so on to twenty eight items for day 28.

However, I'm not necessarily going to make 1st February my one item day.  Far too straightforward!  There will be a one item day but it might be 12th February whilst 2nd February could be a day for twenty five items to leave the premises.  However my days fall, 406 items should go before the month is through.  I've used this sort of crazy system before.  The advantage is that I can get rid of lots of stuff early whilst my enthusiasm is high and then as it gets harder to find items I can use the smaller daily targets.

Went the month well?

 It's almost the end of January and I am very unlikely to spend again so here is my report on my no spend month.  

I've paid all my usual direct debits of course, and this is my discretionary expenditure

Carrots                43p

Parsnips                49p

Peeling knife        £6.49     (wholly paid with Amazon vouchers from surveys)

Frying pan        £32.24     (£15.20 Amazon vouchers, £17.04 cash.)

Iceberg lettuce    60p

Eggs                    £4

Magazine subscription   £5 plus Tesco vouchers

Twirl (chocolate bar)    43p

So, as far as no spend I failed, but to be honest I expected to.  £5.52 on food is miraculous, as far as I am concerned.  I had some Tesco vouchers which would soon expire so I needed to spend them.  I explained the knife and pan here. 

And the chocolate amuses me.  I get a Twirl delivered by Amazon for 43p.  If I went to Sainsbury I would need to pay my petrol and pay 70p.  I rather like inconveniencing Amazon.  

Reporting in at half time

It's half way through my no-spend month so I'm reporting in.  

Carrots                43p

Parsnips                49p

Peeling knife        £6.49     (wholly paid with Amazon vouchers from surveys)

Frying pan        £32.24     (£15.20 Amazon vouchers, £17.04 cash.  That hurt.)

Menus are getting more creative and the freezer is being "rationalised" but I can't claim to be starving.  Root vegetables are the essence of winter comfort food for me so the carrots and parsnips were necessary.  My non-non-stick frying an was ruining food and driving me crazy.  I tried various hacks from YouTube involving dishwasher tablets, washing up liquid, vinegar and bicarb but in the end I had to give it a decent burial. 

Planning

This is a time for a confession.  I do not plan my weekly menus.  I am very envious of those who do.  I have many times planned menus but I never stick to my plan!  

What I do plan is meals.  When I create a shopping list I have in mind something I want to cook and I order the ingredients accordingly.  Today I have made six portions of cottage pie.  I ate one for lunch and I have no idea when the remaining five will be eaten but I know they will be eaten and I will enjoy them.  On Sunday I knew I had cooked too many vegetables but I had in mind various meals I could cook with the leftovers.  

Because I plan meals I knew I had everything I need to make my cottage pies.  There was a bag of frozen lean mince, a couple of onions, and carrots.  I'd got the food processor out for something else so I grated the carrot and onions which was very successful and I shall do that in future rather than chop them.   I had a brainwave and added a portion of very thick butternut squash soup along with the gravy to increase the vegetable content.  I had a bag of frozen mashed potato and I used that for the topping.  It was one of the best cottage pies I have ever made and probably one of the healthiest.  

I also have to confess to ordering a new vegetable peeling knife.  Mine has disappeared from the face of the earth or more likely it went in the bin with vegetable peelings at the weekend.  That is not a frugal way of being!   I paid for it with my Amazon vouchers.

Cook once, twice, thrice

 Cooking for one can be a dispiriting experience, or it can be fun, calling on extra creativity.

On Sunday I decided to have roast vegetables with my pork chop.  I roasted carrots, parsnips, onions and sweet potatoes but also cooked baby carrots and broccoli from the garden.

There was, of course, far too much so Monday the I cooked Bubble and Squeak, using half the leftovers but all the remaining broccoli.

Tuesday the other half became soup.  I'd planned it this way and as I don't like leafy sprouting broccoli in my root vegetable soup I was glad I'd used the leftover broccoli on Monday.  

And there's a bowl of soup left for today.

I think tomorrow I may need to cook again!

Assets

 No-spend January is no small undertaking but I have all sorts of assets.

The first is very well stocked stores.  January is often a very depressing month for me and I have noticed in previous years that when I get depressed I can't be bothered to cook.  There's just me and it seems like too much effort.  Just a sandwich - again! - will be OK.  This year I started to prepare for January back in November.  I stashed away some batch cooked meals and didn't allow myself to eat them.  So far I haven't touched them but I know they are there.  

Secondly it's the things I don't eat which could trip someone up.  I don't use milk but others would consider that to be an essential.  I drink my coffee black and don't drink tea.  I don't eat breakfast cereal and, at the moment, I don't need to think about visitors.  I've got UHT milk in the cupboard and I can use that for cooking.  I'm not bothered by wanting salad in January.  I make my own bread.

And thirdly the biggest asset of all - I have vegetables in the garden.   I had leeks, broccoli and carrots from the garden yesterday.  I save the fresh garden veg for a treat on Sunday and the rest of the week I can eat frozen vegetables or the carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and parsnips I have in store.  

It may be that I will need some emergency purchases and I have to admit I have a small cheat up my sleeve.  When I do market research surveys I am usually paid in either cash (PayPal) or Amazon vouchers.  I am going to make strenuous efforts not to use the cash but the Amazon vouchers will be used if absolutely necessary.